Due up next: WBC

Players leave camp, ready to represent

Credit: AP

REPORTING FOR DUTY: Dustin Pedroia takes a swing yesterday against the Twins before joining his United States teammates for the World Baseball Classic.

FORT MYERS - Five days after Grapefruit League play began, the Red Sox yesterday lost four everyday position players for a period of up to three weeks.

Starting today, they will be without the following: last year’s league MVP; arguably the best clutch hitter in franchise history; their RBI leader from last year; and their only player to top 30 homers last season.

It wasn’t the injury bug that hit the Sox, but rather, the World Baseball Classic.

Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay said their goodbyes yesterday, and joined left-handed reliever Javier Lopez on their way to their respective WBC training camps. Daisuke Matsuzaka, the team’s top winner a year ago, already was with Team Japan.

The tournament, in its second incarnation, pits 16 countries from around the world in a bid for international baseball supremacy. The timing - smack in the middle of spring training - is problematic, but the players and team vowed to do the best to cope.

“It’s a little different,” agreed Pedroia, “but I guess that’s what we’ve signed up for.”

WBC play begins this week, with the championship set for March 23. In short order, the players will go from the relatively relaxed spring training atmosphere, where results are unimportant, to games that stir national pride and bring bragging rights.

“It’s actually going to help me,” Pedroia said. “Playing meaningful games is definitely going to help, especially in the atmosphere. It’s going to make sure I’m a little more locked in earlier than I normally am. I’m the type of player who only cares about winning. That’s what makes me play better. Sometimes, playing these (spring training) games can get a little too relaxed.”

But with that comes risk, not the least of which is the concern that the competitive environment will demand too much, too soon of the players involved, with the result injury.

“It’s a good thing and bad thing,” Youkilis said. “Physically, you’re going to have to take care of your body a lot more because (in Grapefruit League play) you’re just taking three at-bats and getting out, where now you’re going to be sore after a nine-inning game. You just have to take care of body and prepare yourself.”

Added Ortiz: “It’s a little different because usually it takes a little time to be playing with that kind of intensity. But after that, it’s all the same. It doesn’t matter. It’s the same thing as (normal) spring training. You just want to make sure you get your work in.”

Having six players from their projected 25-man roster invited to the WBC reflects well on the Sox. (In all, 14 players from their system will take part, including minor leaguers.) Of the six major leaguers, Matsuzaka, Bay and Ortiz took part the last time; this will be the inaugural trip for Pedroia, Lopez and Youkilis.

“It’s definitely an honor just to be on the team,” Pedroia said. “I’m still trying to be a better baseball player and learning from those guys, that’s definitely going to be something I look forward to, learning from guys who have done it for so long.”

Youkilis said part of the appeal to him was patriotic.

“Maybe some (players) around Major League Baseball might not take this seriously,” Youkilis said, “but there may be some troops overseas that really take this to heart. When you put on that jersey and you’re representing the USA, I think that’s the biggest thing, you’re representing your country.”

Though most of the games will be held in North America, the tournament’s strongest pockets of support tend to come from Latin America and Asia. Ortiz said his native Dominican Republic is captivated by the WBC, resulting in high expectations.

“It means a lot (back home),” Ortiz said. “That’s all they talk about. They’ve been talking about this for years. You have people back home who are going crazy for a tournament like this. You add all those great players in one group and you never know what you can get. Believe me (there’s pressure). There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s like the same pressure you get when you (play for the Red Sox). You’re going to try your best, and there’s going to be a winner. That’s something you can’t control.”

Predictably, the trash-talking already had begun in earnest yesterday among the participating Red Sox players. Ortiz predicted he would take Matsuzaka deep, “for sure,” if their paths crossed. Pedroia looked forward to a U.S.-Canada showdown and “beating up on Jason Bay.”